“The main goal of content strategy is to use words and data to create unambiguous content that supports meaningful, interactive experiences.”

–  Rachel Lovinger

It’s now called "content" if it’s on the web: social content, user-generated content, Word-of-Mouth content, customer review content, content, content. And "strategy" is the ideation, scheduling, creation, posting, and review/optimization of the content. So the multi-faceted hat of the strategist involves branding: understanding what the company value-proposition is; SEO: researching what keywords are of high-value within that brand’s target audience; creation: expressing the idea in words or graphics; content management: getting the content published and tagged; analytics: identifying and reporting on the results; back to strategy: revising the content strategy to generate more meaningful results.

There are many stakeholders in this process. On some teams you will have individuals who have deep experience and job titles in these disciplines. On other teams you might be required to understand and define each aspect of the process as a sole contributor. Either way the strategic content created must provide demonstrable value in each step of the process.

And Prateek Sartar clearly summarizes in the comments of the article above; " Another key aspect to Content Strategy is the notion of developing a persuasive narrative via content. What is the problem that must be solved? How do we define success in solving that problem? The Content Strategist must optimize all elements of content around these questions. "

Problem > Strategy > Narrative > Post > Measure > Revise > Repeat

The two most powerful documents for generating consistant social media are the Content Calendar and the Drafts folder of your WordPress site. (You are using WordPress, right?)

First let’s look at the Content Calendar. Imagine a roadmap that tracks all the months of the year (with emphasis on holidays and potential events that affect your business) and provides a framework for what you will be writing about that month.

Content Calendar

With the content calendar in place you know what each month looks like in advance, and you can begin writing and planning your content for the 4th of July, for example, early in June. It’s easy to forget how important a good calendar and plan are to making the process of content creation easier. You don’t have to make up your topics on the fly every week, some of them will become obvious when you have a calendar, and can identify and see strategic dates in advance.

The second tool of great value is the idea starters in you DRAFTS Folder. (Even if you’re not on WordPress, you should have a drafts folder.) Any idea I have, rather than adding a line item to my Evernote file, I open WordPress and select NEW POST. It’s a fun feeling. Even if I know I’m not going to be able to write it at that moment, what better way to file the IDEAS than to start them?

Brainstorm in your DRAFTS FOLDER.

Here are a couple infographics that might help you get started at building a strategy.

• Social Media is Part of an Online Strategy
• Simple Strategic Plan for Social Media Outreach
• 8 Steps to Social Media Success

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)

permalink: https://uber.la/2013/06/strategic-content/ ‎

Reference: Content Strategy: the Philosophy of Data, Rachel Lovinger, Boxes and Arrows

See also: The Digital Strategist’s Notebook

Essentials of Digital Marketing: 

• Social Media U – videos and best practices
• Workin Facebook – all the Facebook learning you’ll ever need
• The Twitter Way – the Twitter book in post form
• The Other Social Networks – Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest
• Social Media Funnies – cause we need to laugh at ourselves and our social medianess
• Contact Me – let me know how I can help you grow your business online

Most people don’t really enjoy being mean; they do it because they can’t help it. (from Graham’s Hierarchy of Disagreement)